Miami Mortgage News

Who were Broward’s biggest commercial buyers of 2015?

While Broward County might not have the same glitz and glamour of its southern cousin Miami-Dade, the county had plenty of big-ticket commercial deals last year that racked up millions.

The Real Deal analyzed data from the CoStar group, an information company, to compile a list of Broward’s biggest commercial buyers during 2015.

#1 Prologis – $407.5 million
Prologis, one of the country’s biggest industrial real estate firms, racked up more pricey property purchases in Broward than any other company.
The company sank a total of $407.5 million into 23 properties spread throughout the county, mostly concentrated in Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale.
What helped push Prologis to the top this year was its $820 million acquisition of a 21-property portfolio from Morris Realty Associates. Three of those properties were located in Broward, totaling about $69.4 million.

#2 Starwood Capital Group – $281.9 million
Second on the list was investment firm Starwood Capital Group, headquartered in the wealthy enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut.
The firm put $281.9 million down on 13 properties in Broward, most of which were office buildings located in Fort Lauderdale business parks.
Not to be outdone, Starwood also closed on a massive commercial sale last year. The investment firm was one of three buyers that paid $1.1 billion for Duke Realty’s portfolio of 62 properties in the Southeastern United States.
Among those properties were eight office buildings in Fort Lauderdale and one in Pompano Beach, which made up the bulk of Starwood’s investment total for Broward County last year. Together, they totaled almost $180 million worth of properties.

#3 Norges Bank – $272.3 million
Close behind Starwood was the Norwegian central bank, which had a serious hankering for South Florida real estate last year.
Norges Bank assembled $272.3 million worth of Broward County commercial properties during 2015, landing it in third place for the year’s list of biggest buyers.
Those purchases were spread out over 13 properties between Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, Hallandale and Dania Beach.
All 13 were purchased in a joint-venture with Prologis — our No. 1 contender — as part of the $5.9 billion acquisition of KTR Capital Partners’ portfolio of 322 distribution properties throughout the U.S.
Norges Bank is one of many foreign sovereign wealth funds picking up big chunks of U.S. real estate.

#4 TIAA-CREF – $238.8 million
TIAA-CREF is a Fortune 100 company that provides pensions for teachers and other professionals. It’s also one of the country’s largest real estate investment companies, and holds the No. 4 spot on the list of Broward’s biggest commercial buyers.
The company spent $238.8 million on Broward County properties last year. The interesting part? That was split between just two purchases.
In the first deal, the financial giant picked up Orlando-based Zom’s Casa Palma apartment complex in unincorporated Broward for nearly $90 million.
Next, TIAA-CREF paid the Related Group an incredible $149 million for its Manor at Flagler Village apartment project in Fort Lauderdale.

#5 Global Logistics Properties – $187.7 million
Last but certainly not least is Chicago-based Global Logistics Properties, a multinational real estate firm that specializes in — you guessed it — logistics properties.
Last year, GLP put down an impressive $187.7 million for 11 Broward County properties, all but one of which was located in Fort Lauderdale.
The commercial giant continued this list’s trend of massive portfolio deals with its purchase an Industrial Income Trust assemblage in a deal valued at $4.55 billion.
In Broward, that portfolio’s biggest piece was Sunrise Distribution Center in Fort Lauderdale. It alone fetched $43.8 million.

Burger King to build new HQ office in Miami-Dade

Burger King’s parent company may be based in Canada now, but the fast food chain is planting its fork in Miami-Dade County long term with plans for a new headquarters building.

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Patrick Duffy and Jon Bourbeau represented Burger King in signing a lease for a 150,000-square-foot building to be constructed in the Waterford at Blue Lagoon office park. The five-story building will be on a five-acre site at 5707 Blue Lagoon Drive.

Burger King is currently in about 200,000 square feet at 5505 Blue Lagoon Drive. So the company is downsizing its space. Burger King completed an $11 billion merger with Tim Hortons in 2015 and its parent company Restaurant Brands International is now based in Toronto, yet it continues to manage its franchise from Miami. It's been in Miami since 1959.

“Given rental inflation in the Miami office market and efficiency gains created in a new building, the cost of moving into a build-to-suit headquarters was less than remaining in an older facility,” Duffy said. “It also allowed Burger King to remain in a single-tenant building that preserves their corporate culture.”

The new building will be on the part of the office park owned by Allianz Real Estate of America and TIAA-CREF, with management by the Hogan Group. The building Burger King is leaving is owned by Franklin Street Properties.
Hogan Group VP Stephen Smith said Burger King didn’t need 200,000 square feet and its new corporate culture favors an open, collaborative workplace. For instance, the Tim Horton’s office in Toronto has a huge open floor plate, he said.

“It would be very hard for them to make the existing building work long term,” Smith said. “This is a chance to start from scratch …. It’s good that they are sticking around for the long term.”
Burger King's new building should be ready in the third quarter of 2018.

Smith is hoping more companies will favor locating in the business park near Miami International Airport. The Hogan Group is close to breaking ground on 800 Waterford, a 250,000-square-foot speculative “Class A” office building.
The Burger King deal was the largest office lease in South Florida during the fourth quarter, according to NGKF. It closed out a productive period for Duffy, who recently brokered lease renewals of 116,000 square feet for Citigroup and 57,764 square feet for Shook Hardy & Bacon at the Miami Center Building at 201 S. Biscayne Blvd. Citigroup downsized from 157,000 square feet.

According to NGKF’s fourth quarter office market report, Miami-Dade had a vacancy rate of 12.9 percent, down from 14.9 percent a year ago. The average asking rent increased to $32.03 per square foot, from $31.80 per square foot. The report found 572,067 square feet of office space under construction, a number that is set to rise.

Who were Broward’s biggest commercial buyers of 2015?

While Broward County might not have the same glitz and glamour of its southern cousin Miami-Dade, the county had plenty of big-ticket commercial deals last year that racked up millions.

The Real Deal analyzed data from the CoStar group, an information company, to compile a list of Broward’s biggest commercial buyers during 2015.

#1 Prologis – $407.5 million
Prologis, one of the country’s biggest industrial real estate firms, racked up more pricey property purchases in Broward than any other company.
The company sank a total of $407.5 million into 23 properties spread throughout the county, mostly concentrated in Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale.
What helped push Prologis to the top this year was its $820 million acquisition of a 21-property portfolio from Morris Realty Associates. Three of those properties were located in Broward, totaling about $69.4 million.

#2 Starwood Capital Group – $281.9 million
Second on the list was investment firm Starwood Capital Group, headquartered in the wealthy enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut.
The firm put $281.9 million down on 13 properties in Broward, most of which were office buildings located in Fort Lauderdale business parks.
Not to be outdone, Starwood also closed on a massive commercial sale last year. The investment firm was one of three buyers that paid $1.1 billion for Duke Realty’s portfolio of 62 properties in the Southeastern United States.
Among those properties were eight office buildings in Fort Lauderdale and one in Pompano Beach, which made up the bulk of Starwood’s investment total for Broward County last year. Together, they totaled almost $180 million worth of properties.

#3 Norges Bank – $272.3 million
Close behind Starwood was the Norwegian central bank, which had a serious hankering for South Florida real estate last year.
Norges Bank assembled $272.3 million worth of Broward County commercial properties during 2015, landing it in third place for the year’s list of biggest buyers.
Those purchases were spread out over 13 properties between Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, Hallandale and Dania Beach.
All 13 were purchased in a joint-venture with Prologis — our No. 1 contender — as part of the $5.9 billion acquisition of KTR Capital Partners’ portfolio of 322 distribution properties throughout the U.S.
Norges Bank is one of many foreign sovereign wealth funds picking up big chunks of U.S. real estate.

#4 TIAA-CREF – $238.8 million
TIAA-CREF is a Fortune 100 company that provides pensions for teachers and other professionals. It’s also one of the country’s largest real estate investment companies, and holds the No. 4 spot on the list of Broward’s biggest commercial buyers.
The company spent $238.8 million on Broward County properties last year. The interesting part? That was split between just two purchases.
In the first deal, the financial giant picked up Orlando-based Zom’s Casa Palma apartment complex in unincorporated Broward for nearly $90 million.
Next, TIAA-CREF paid the Related Group an incredible $149 million for its Manor at Flagler Village apartment project in Fort Lauderdale.

#5 Global Logistics Properties – $187.7 million
Last but certainly not least is Chicago-based Global Logistics Properties, a multinational real estate firm that specializes in — you guessed it — logistics properties.
Last year, GLP put down an impressive $187.7 million for 11 Broward County properties, all but one of which was located in Fort Lauderdale.
The commercial giant continued this list’s trend of massive portfolio deals with its purchase an Industrial Income Trust assemblage in a deal valued at $4.55 billion.
In Broward, that portfolio’s biggest piece was Sunrise Distribution Center in Fort Lauderdale. It alone fetched $43.8 million.

Burger King to build new HQ office in Miami-Dade

Burger King’s parent company may be based in Canada now, but the fast food chain is planting its fork in Miami-Dade County long term with plans for a new headquarters building.

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Patrick Duffy and Jon Bourbeau represented Burger King in signing a lease for a 150,000-square-foot building to be constructed in the Waterford at Blue Lagoon office park. The five-story building will be on a five-acre site at 5707 Blue Lagoon Drive.

Burger King is currently in about 200,000 square feet at 5505 Blue Lagoon Drive. So the company is downsizing its space. Burger King completed an $11 billion merger with Tim Hortons in 2015 and its parent company Restaurant Brands International is now based in Toronto, yet it continues to manage its franchise from Miami. It's been in Miami since 1959.

“Given rental inflation in the Miami office market and efficiency gains created in a new building, the cost of moving into a build-to-suit headquarters was less than remaining in an older facility,” Duffy said. “It also allowed Burger King to remain in a single-tenant building that preserves their corporate culture.”

The new building will be on the part of the office park owned by Allianz Real Estate of America and TIAA-CREF, with management by the Hogan Group. The building Burger King is leaving is owned by Franklin Street Properties.
Hogan Group VP Stephen Smith said Burger King didn’t need 200,000 square feet and its new corporate culture favors an open, collaborative workplace. For instance, the Tim Horton’s office in Toronto has a huge open floor plate, he said.

“It would be very hard for them to make the existing building work long term,” Smith said. “This is a chance to start from scratch …. It’s good that they are sticking around for the long term.”
Burger King's new building should be ready in the third quarter of 2018.

Smith is hoping more companies will favor locating in the business park near Miami International Airport. The Hogan Group is close to breaking ground on 800 Waterford, a 250,000-square-foot speculative “Class A” office building.
The Burger King deal was the largest office lease in South Florida during the fourth quarter, according to NGKF. It closed out a productive period for Duffy, who recently brokered lease renewals of 116,000 square feet for Citigroup and 57,764 square feet for Shook Hardy & Bacon at the Miami Center Building at 201 S. Biscayne Blvd. Citigroup downsized from 157,000 square feet.

According to NGKF’s fourth quarter office market report, Miami-Dade had a vacancy rate of 12.9 percent, down from 14.9 percent a year ago. The average asking rent increased to $32.03 per square foot, from $31.80 per square foot. The report found 572,067 square feet of office space under construction, a number that is set to rise.